DEVELOPMENTAL FUNDS PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT CCSG Developmental Funds are critical to the success of Yale Cancer Center (YCC). YCC carefully invests these funds to launch new areas of cancer research, and, in the process, expands member engagement and stimulates collaboration in high-priority areas. During the past funding period, CCSG Developmental Funds were used exclusively to help fund YCC?s successful internal grants programs because of the tremendous value of these grants to the YCC membership. CCSG funds form the cornerstone of the entire portfolio of YCC internal grants and allow us to obtain additional funds from other sources to further support members? research. There are several components to the YCC internal grants program, including: ? American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant for new investigators ? Pilot and Co-pilot Awards ? Targeted grants for population sciences and catchment-related research ? Translational-Targeted Area of Research Excellence (T-TARE) Awards ? Yale Discovery Fund Grants CCSG Developmental Funds provide $200,000 annually to support YCC internal grant programs, but most of the funds used to support internal grants comes from other sources. Up to $1 million in total is used to support these grant programs annually. The CCSG is the most predictable and stable source of funds for these grants and therefore anchors the YCC internal grants programs. Thus, the CCSG Developmental Funds are highly leveraged with institutional and other funds to maintain a robust internal grants program. The return on investment has been exceptional. Since 2012, the internal grants program has distributed approximately $5.9 million to YCC members. Of this, approximately $1 million was from CCSG Developmental Funds. Based on results obtained from YCC internal grants, the internal grant recipients have received $55.6 million in new extramural cancer research funding. We propose to increase Developmental Funds from $200,000 annually to $400,000 annually. These funds will be used for two purposes. First, we will maintain and expand the YCC Internal Grants Programs, with a focus on funding additional grants that support YCC strategic priorities. We can undertake this expansion without sacrificing quality because of the remarkable number of new and planned recruits. In addition, Developmental Funds will be used to support the development of improved infrastructure to conduct translational research. In the first year, these funds will be used to hire an individual to build a data warehouse.